Dr. John Perkins, co-founder of SPU’s John Perkins Center for Reconciliation, Leadership Training, and Community Development, returns to campus on Tuesday, April 19. He will speak in chapel at 11:10 a.m. in First Free Methodist Church.

More

Faculty and staff are invited to a special unveiling of two paintings by African American artist Charles Ethan Porter Tuesday, April 19, 10:15 a.m. at First Free Methodist Church. The paintings are being donated to SPU by local couple William Sacherek and Liselotte Lamerdin in appreciation of the reconciliation work of the John Perkins Center. They will join SPU President Dan Martin and Dr. John Perkins at the presentation.

More

The annual Celebration of Service is Thursday, April 28, beginning at 11:10 a.m. in Brougham Pavilion. Please join us as we celebrate the years of service of our colleagues across campus and recognize the Faculty of the Year, Exempt Staff Member of the Year, and Non-Exempt Staff Member of the Year award winners. There will be a reception following the ceremony, and offices will be closed so that everyone can attend.

The SPU Theatre Department presents “The Spitfire Grill: A Musical” on April 21-23 and 28-30 at 7:30 p.m. in the E.E. Bach Theatre inside McKinley Hall. An additional matinee is Saturday, April 23, and Saturday, April 30, at 2 p.m. This musical, set in a small Wisconsin town, tells the story of a recent parolee on a mission to follow her dreams. The production explores the grit of protagonist Hannah, who is determined to turn the town’s one eatery into a great new restaurant. Will she succeed? Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors. Group rates are available for 10 or more. To purchase tickets, call 206-281-2959 or visit SPU’s McKinley Box office. 

More

Hundreds of prospective students and their families will be on campus this month for SPU Fridays. Prospective and admitted high school and transfer students will dine in Gwinn Commons, attend informational sessions, and visit classes on Friday, April 22 and 29. Look for these students and their families, and make them feel welcome.

More

A message from Human Resources: The Open Enrollment period to change or update your benefits runs May 2-20. The Human Resources staff looks forward to having you join us on Tuesday, May 3, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. in Upper Gwinn for the annual Benefits Fair. Please take a few moments to come by and say hello, stroll around the fair, and enjoy some snacks. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet our dedicated Cigna team as well as discuss any questions or concerns you may have. Representatives from other featured vendors will also be present: BAC (administrator for our health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts), Delta Dental, VSP (our vision plan), and many more. These representatives provide information, answer questions, and bring giveaways and prizes. We look forward to seeing you there! Reminder: Pay careful attention to all communications from Human Resources particularly during this Open Enrollment season.

Because the vendor will be out of town on May 3, you have until 9:59 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, to have stationery order(s) delivered on May 13. Stationery orders are delivered once a month. Orders received after April 26 will be delivered Friday, June 17. Additionally, you must order by June 7 to have stationery delivered in this fiscal year. The June 17 delivery date for stationery orders will be the final delivery of the current fiscal year, without placing a rush order. If you have questions, contact Hope McPherson in University Communications at hmcpherson@spu.edu.

Dainius Vaičekonis, assistant professor of music, and his wife and music staff member, Asta Vaičekonis, will perform a special piano concert on Friday, April 22, 7:30 p.m. in Nickerson Studios. The concert, titled “Works for Two Pianos by Living Composers of Israel, USA, and Lithuania,” is the same one they will perform this summer in Israel. The event is free. 

Join us for this month’s Sitecore/Contribute brownbag on Thursday, April 21, noon to 1 p.m. in the Lower Weter large conference room. (Sitecore/Contribute Brownbags occur the third Thursday of most months, noon to 1 p.m.) If you would like help with any changes you need to make to your website, bring them with you and we’ll walk you through them. If you plan to come, email Kathy Henning in University Communications at kathy@spu.edu. Sitecore Tip of the Month: When editing text, you can add curly quotes, curly apostrophes, em dashes, en dashes, and a few other symbols by clicking the down arrow next to the omega symbol in the top bar of the content editor. Confusing? Come to the brownbag and we’ll show you!

A message from Nyaradzo Mvududu, professor of education and licensed Zumba instructor. “Zumba at 12:30 p.m. on Fridays in the main gym in Brougham Pavilion is open to all faculty, staff, alumni, of all fitness levels. The sessions are free. Let the beat carry you through this energetic dance workout set to international music tracks. Zumba is designed to feel like a party so that the hour flies by. If you have questions, email nyaradzo@spu.edu or Intramural Manager Adam Finch at acfinch@spu.edu.”

Here are the Campus Retail Dining Services promotions for April 18 through 24.

Common Grounds/Academic Perks: Grande White Raspberry Mocha $3.99.

Common Grounds: All baked items are 50 cents, Monday-Friday, 7-9 p.m. or Saturday-Sunday, 5-7 p.m.

Academic Perks: All baked items are 50 cents Monday-Friday, 4-6 p.m.

Medley: 5-Topping Salad $5, or a 3-Topping Salad $3.

Subway: 6-inch Meatball Sandwich $3.99. Visit Subway for daily selections of the 6-inch Sub of the Day.

Sandella’s: Gourmet Chicken Salad Wrap $5 for a limited time. Add a 21-ounce fountain drink for $1 more. Any Sandella’s flatbread and a 21-ounce fountain drink $5.99.

Jamba Juice: 20 percent off Jamba Juice orders every Tuesday and Thursday for the month of April.

Einstein’s Bagels: Nova Lox Bagel $6.59.

Grill: Latin Breakfast Veggie Melt $3.99.

C-store: Theo Chocolate bars $1.99.

$5 Friday Retail Dining Promotion:

Medley: 5-Topping Salad, including beef topping

Grill: Vegetarian burger, fries, and a 21-ounce fountain drink

Einstein’s Bagels: Albacore Tuna Salad Bagel or Wrap 

Sandellas: Any Sandella’s rice bowl

Subway: Footlong cold cut combo

C-Store: Any canned energy drink and a king-sized candy bar

The Spanish Conversation Table will be available Spring Quarter to anyone who wants to speak with others in Spanish. Beginners are welcome. Meet your classmates and colleagues, make new friends, and improve your Spanish. If you want to get some help on vocabulary or figure out how reflexive verbs work, come see us. You don’t have to sign up ahead of time; just bring your lunch and join us. The table meets on Fridays, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in Marston Hall, room 254. If you have questions, email adjunct faculty member Vilma Illanes at villanes@spu.edu.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published weekly during the academic year. If you have information or event news, send it as soon as possible to Bulletin editor Tracy Norlen at fsb-editor@spu.edu. Submissions may be edited for clarity. The next deadline is Thursday, April 21. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, April 25, 2016.

Assistant Professor of Music Chérie Hughes recently gave a solo recital at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She also coached vocal students in a masterclass.

More

Brian Gill, professor of mathematics, was recently elected chair of the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America. He will serve on the section’s executive committee as chair-elect in 2016-17, chair in 2017-19, and past chair in 2019-20. The section includes Washington, Oregon, Alaska, parts of Idaho and Montana, and the western half of Canada.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Jenny Vaydich presented a poster titled “The Influence of Parental Conflict and Criticism on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Immigrant Youth” at the annual Society for Research on Adolescence conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Robert Baah, professor of Spanish and Latin American studies, recently gave a presentation on “De-contextualization and Re-contextualization: Temporal Paths in Ernesto Cardenal’s Salmos” at the First Congress of Latin American, Latino, & Iberian Studies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Framed by François Hogart’s notion of regimes of historicity, the presentation examined the temporal architecture of the Salmos along the paths of ubi sunt, ubi sumus, and ubi erimos.

Professor of History Michael Hamilton’s book chapter, “American Evangelicalism: Character, Function, and Trajectories of Change,” has just been published in The Future of Evangelicalism in America (Future of Religion in America Series), edited by Candy Gunther Brown and Mark Silk and published by Columbia University Press (2016), pp. 18-53.

More

Professor of Apparel Design and Merchandising Jaeil Lee co-authored a paper titled “Fostering Creativity and Ethical Fashion Design Self-Efficacy Among Fashion Design & Merchandising Students” in Journal of the Korean Society of Fashion Design. The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of performance outcomes, oral persuasion, vicarious experience, and physiological feedback on fashion design and merchandising students’ creativity and ethical fashion design self-efficacy. 

Niki Amarantides, director of the Center for Learning and co-chair of SPU's Committee on Homelessness, was interviewed by the newspaper Real Change for a story about Tent City 3 coming to the University of Washington. The story was published April 13.

More